


The Siren's Song

by C1oudStrife



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: (or pirate as i'm told), M/M, Shipwreck, like a literal ship gets wrecked, occasional gore, sailor!Vanitas, siren!Xehanort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-03-07 11:43:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18872527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/C1oudStrife/pseuds/C1oudStrife
Summary: After receiving a gift from Eraqus and his family, Vanitas decides he wants to test the waters and sail the world.However, during a heavy storm, the ship Vanitas is given gets destroyed, and Vanitas gets a glimpse of... something, that lurks in the water.Now he's stranded on an island, probably being hunted by something that definitely isn't a fish, and needs to find his way home.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy MerMay!  
> I'm not really particularly celebrating the month, but I thought now would be a perfect time to post the first chapter of this.  
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Updates may be slow because this isn't like my main fic right now, it's more helping me keep from burning out on my other ones for the moment.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine, seriously.” Vanitas rolled his eyes as he lugged a heavy crate onto his small ship. He was only going out to sea for a few days, maybe a little over a week at worst, just to test how well the vessel fared on the waters and break it in a bit. It was a brand new ship, a gift from his adoptive family to encourage his adventurous heart.

Now that same family was worrying over every little detail as he prepared to actually leave. It had started with Ventus, who’d rushed out to the pier after him to demand tagging along. Then, it was Eraqus, who’d rushed out to rescue Vanitas from Ventus’s complaining, only to then start asking if Vanitas really felt ready to go just yet. Then, Aqua and Terra followed, claiming their own jealousies and adding comments to only worry Eraqus further on how safe the trip would be.

They acted like he was going away forever. Which, admittedly, was a bit on Vanitas’s mind, but first he needed to make sure the ship could handle leaving forever. Which was all the small voyage was supposed to be. He didn’t understand what the big deal was.

Eraqus, taking his place as leader of the group, sighed and nodded. “Well, if you’re sure we can’t change your mind. Are you positive you have enough supplies?”

Vanitas bit back a groan. “Yeah, positive. I’ll be back in a few days, you won’t even notice I was gone.”

“Alright then.” Eraqus grouped the other three closer to himself, silently warning them the topic was done with, and likely to physically hold them in place should they decide to argue further. “Safe travels.”

Vanitas hid a grin as Ventus started complaining again, arguing with Eraqus rather than Vanitas himself this time. “Why can’t I go?”

“This is Vanitas’s journey. You can have your own when it’s time.”

“Why does he get his first?”

To keep from having to listen to Ven whine any longer, Vanitas shouted to get everyone’s attention. “Hey!” He waved from the deck of the ship. “See you in a few days! Don’t miss me too much!”

The four waved back as Vanitas prepared to set sail. Only a few days until he’d see them again, and then he’d really set sail, for good. Travel the world and never look back.

One thing at a time, though. His first order of business was to get the ship out of port, onto the sea, and then safely back into port. If he could do that, he could do anything, and it should be an absolute piece of cake.

Vanitas learned quickly that sailing was easier said than done.

In all of his admittedly very simple planning, Vanitas did not expect the storm that hit mere moments after he got out to sea. His ship heaved as it battled the rough waves, threatening to throw him around at every motion.

It was difficult conditions to sail in, but Vanitas wasn’t going to give up. If he was going to live as a sailor, he’d have to get used to storms. Not to mention how good of a test it would be. If the ship could sail a storm, it should be able to sail just about anything.

The ship lurched, and Vanitas quickly took control again. He grinned to himself, feeling like he was getting pretty good at the task. He felt silly for having worried at all about such a meaningless storm.

As Vanitas pushed further, the sky continued to darken. He couldn’t see the port behind him anymore, nor any form of land ahead. It was just him, and the sea, and the battle as the two wrestled for control of his ship.

The wind howled loudly, as if shrieking at Vanitas for daring to defy it. It took a bit of sailing and fighting the sea before he realized there was a pitch alternating in the storm’s cacophonous sound.

As if the sea itself was playing a haunting melody, using the rain and wind and bucking waters as its instruments.

A faint blue glow caught Vanitas’s attention. A lighthouse up ahead? There were a couple islands around Vanitas’s home, that he could recall. Or, worst case scenario, he’d been fighting the storm so long he didn’t even realize he’d turned around.

The dark tune threaded through Vanitas’s ears again, even more noticeable now that he knew it was there. 

He hated giving up, he couldn’t give up, but… something felt off about the entire situation. The lighthouse didn’t look too far, perhaps it was safe to at least dock long enough to get his bearings. Vanitas gripped the wheel of the ship with newfound vigor and angled it toward the light.

The journey felt only marginally easier as Vanitas steered toward the glow. Perhaps he was getting used to stormy sailing. Perhaps out on the sea was his one true place in life.

He didn’t even question how the darkness of the storm refused to let up no matter how much he sailed toward the light. He didn’t question when the light started angling above him instead of ahead.

He didn’t have time to change course when he realized the light was dangling from the top of a cliff.

Vanitas’s ship slammed directly into the rock face. The wood splintered as it smashed against the unmoving surface, and Vanitas himself was launched overboard as the entire ship lurched and began to sink.

It was impossible to fight the waves while they surged. Vanitas could only surface for moments at a time for air before being pulled under again.

His strength was fading fast, and for perhaps the first time in his life, Vanitas was fearing death. His family wouldn’t even know what had happened to him. They’d never find his body. He’d be forgotten alongside every other capsized sailor at the bottom of the sea.

A bright flicker of blue caught his fading vision. There was no way Vanitas had surfaced. Perhaps the storm had calmed, and the last thing he would be able to see before he died was the lighthouse at the top of the cliff that beckoned him right into his grave. How poetic.

At least, it would have been poetic, until glowing yellow eyes shone uncomfortably close to Vanitas’s face. Raw panic took over, the kind that was trying to tell Vanitas it was better to drown than to be eaten alive, and he attempted to use the last of his energy to swim away.

What should have been just a fish grabbed him. Vanitas attempted to scream, his panicked mind forgetting he was underwater, and he only silently got a lungful of water.

The stress was too much as the monster dragged Vanitas away. His vision was darkening, and he wasn’t sure if it was the depths of the sea, the wispiness of unconsciousness, or the shadows of death.


	2. Chapter 2

Vanitas dazedly woke up on solid earth. Very solid, notably wet, stone earth. He heaved up some of the water that had gotten trapped in his body, and it took him a few moments to shakily right himself so that he wouldn’t faceplant back into his own vomit.

He was in a cave, one small and dark and dripping from condensation. Light filtered from a hole on the far side, and Vanitas’s legs were soaking in a small pool near a wall.

It was likely that pool was deep, filtering all the way out to the sea. By some sheer luck he must have been swept into it by a current and managed to wash up into the cave.

Though, that didn’t explain what most definitely had to have been a sea monster grabbing him. Unless the eyes really were just a fish, and the hands were just some seaweed tangling around him?

Vanitas pulled his legs out of the water and frowned. He wasn’t really sure he believed that, and he didn’t really want to think on it further. Especially when he hardly had anything to prove any sort of theory.

The light at the other end of the cave pulled at his attention again. Vanitas approached it, careful not to just barrel straight into the unknown after the incident with the lighthouse.

The cave sloped up toward the opening the light was coming through. It wasn’t too difficult to navigate, and the opening was plenty big enough for Vanitas to step out of.

Vanitas had to squint his eyes as he adjusted to the transition from the surprisingly dark cave to bright sunlight. When he could properly see, he found himself in a lovely forest grove, full of tall trees and beautiful flowers. Deep pools of water like the one in the cave dotted parts of the clearing. Through the trees, not too far away, Vanitas caught sight of a beach.

Vanitas decided on heading toward the beach, convincing himself that it would be far less easy to get lost while he got his bearings. His feet hit soft, pristine sand as he got closer to the shore, and the sea seemed to sparkle from the way the sun’s light shone off of it.

Another shoreline could be seen far off in the distance. With some focused squinting, Vanitas could make out the port he’d sailed away from and some of his hometown buildings.

So he was still close to home, but he’d made it just far out enough to make it difficult to get back. The first emotion Vanitas felt from that bit of information was disappointment. All that time fighting the storm and he’d only made it to maybe an inconvenient island away. He kicked at the sand, and watched the water whisk the shifted clump out to sea.

Vanitas debated just rushing out after it. He was plenty capable of swimming, he could probably manage to swim home if he put some effort into it.

At least he could, theoretically, if nothing ate him along the way. Even if a sea monster didn’t exist, there were plenty of other sea animals that wouldn’t be friendly if they found him.

He was probably more likely to survive without swimming involved.

Of course, he didn’t want to just sit on the island the rest of his life either. What remained of his ship was probably sitting at the bottom of the sea.

He turned to look back at the forest again. Many of the plants were big flowers or mostly leaves, but there were plenty of trees with some thick wood or quite a few branches. If he picked the right ones, he could probably build a raft and paddle his way home.

Was it safer than just swimming home? Given that he nearly drowned after crashing an entire ship, probably not, but it felt better than nothing.

Vanitas’s stomach took that moment to growl. He hadn’t eaten since he left for his trip, and he wasn’t even sure if he could say how long ago that was considering his nap in the cave.

There were plenty of fruit-bearing trees back in the forest, at least negating any worries about having to figure out poisonous berries as far as Vanitas was concerned. He grabbed a few bananas, dragonfruit, some fruit shaped like a star that he couldn’t place the name of, and some other strange colorful fruits he’d probably never be able to identify. If there was space to carry it in his arms, he went for it.

Once he collected as much as he could, Vanitas found a small spot shaded by some branches and leaves to shelter in. He wasn’t really in the mood to go back into that dark, damp cave.

Vanitas devoured a good portion of his fruit hoard, and then began to build an only slightly more proper leaf-based camp. It wasn’t like he knew much about how to build with only natural tools, but he at least fixed up the shade over his head and crafted himself a little nest of leaves to substitute a bed and blanket.

By the time he finished, the sky was starting to darken as day faded to night. Vanitas bundled into his makeshift nest, trying not to think about how much better a bed would have been. Or at least the solid wooden boards of the ship he was supposed to be on.

His body hardly seemed to mind the difference, though. Within moments he was asleep, sheltered away in the shadows.


End file.
